Centralized inventory systems are frequently used in the medical community to track and dispense medical products such as medications, medical devices, etc. Some of these items may be sophisticated and expensive instruments, and keeping close track of these items is desirable from a caregiver viewpoint as well as an ownership viewpoint. For a caregiver, it is important to be able to quickly and accurately locate a needed item. As an owner of the facility, it is important that very expensive items, such as electronic instruments, be protected from theft to the extent possible.
In such a centralized inventory system, medical products are stored in a storage area, such as a wall cabinet or other secure location. The dispensation of the products from the storage area may be tracked by requiring authorized users to indicate in a tracking log which products, and what quantity thereof, they have removed from the storage area. Similarly, low-stock and out-of-stock warnings may be provided by an alert user who notes the dwindling supply of a product as he removes it. These systems, however, rely upon the compliance of the users to track the dispensation of products therefrom, and are therefore prone to error.